MCI WorldCom-Sprint

2000-2001

MCI WorldCom offered $129 billion in stock and debt to top a rival $100 billion bid from BellSouth for Sprint (S) in October 1999. The plan was to combine MCI WorldCom's No. 2 long distance business with Sprint's third-place operation. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe balked, and the deal was canceled. Later, WorldCom was caught up in accounting fraud that led to the ouster of CEO Bernard Ebbers and other executives and left the company in bankruptcy. WorldCom was ultimately acquired by Verizon for $7.6 billion in 2005.

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